Forgiveness
by fooligan
Summary: This story picks up right after Dana gets the ‘Get Out and Stay Out’ Subaru campaign. Instead of simply doing nothing (which I REALLY didn’t understand) after she gets the campaign and fires her evil manager, Dana fights for her woman!


**Title:** Forgiveness

**Summary: **This picks up right after Dana gets the 'Get Out and Stay Out' Subaru campaign. Instead of simply doing nothing (which I REALLY didn't understand) after she gets the campaign and fires her evil manager, Dana fights for her woman! What can I say? I'm a sucker for the cutesy blushes and Lara is my baby. Yes, yes I know, it's an excuse for shameless ship, but bring it on!

**Disclaimer: **The lovely characters of The L Word aren't mine, nor are the transcripts I'm using as a basis for my recap (they came fromthe good people at The L Word fansite.)

**Rating:**PG-13 

**Recap of Season 1, episode 7, L'ennui:**

_Back in the café, under the suspected scrutiny of a straight couple, a distraught Dana was beside herself. With tears flowing freely down her cheeks she called out to her girlfriend, "I don't want to be with you."_

_Lara remained silent as Dana, still in tears, backed away and then turned and left. Lara stood there, heartbroken._

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_Back at the country club Dana's training hard for the benefit of the Subaru representatives and photographers. After a rigorous session of tennis she stops abruptly as she catches Lara walking by. Dana stares hard at her as her tennis partner hits the ball and it goes sailing past. Dana turns around and walks off._

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__A few moments later, the main Subaru representative makes his intentions known, " See, our concept is, uh, we wanna position you as the gay Anna Kournikova."_

_To this proposal Dana's rude, obnoxious manager, Conrad, releases an outraged cry, "What?" _

_The unnamed Subaru representative repeats himself, "The gay Anna Kournikova." _

_Conrad exasperatingly continues his berate of the gentleman, "Hold," he pauses a moment to laugh "Hold on a second here, guys. What are you… what are you talking about? This is not something we discussed. I don't… I don't think that…" _

_But before Conrad can finish his pointless argument, Dana rightfully interrupts, smiling, "I love it. I love it. I wanna be the gay Anna Kournikova. I do." She chuckles and quickly inhales a deep sigh of relief. _

_The Subaru representative excitedly responds, "Well, that's great! It's settled then." Meanwhile, Conrad, possibly in realising his career is in jeopardy, has changed his tune, "This is brilliant. Wait a second, this is brilliant! This is… this is exactly the... the kind of thing we've been groping for. It's like…it's a hook. You guys! That's why they're paying you the big bucks. Right?" _

_In mid-laughter, no doubt at the lengths of sucking up one will go to when the end is near, the Subaru representative replies, "Well, I don't know about that." _

_Yet, Conrad relentlessly drudges on, "Fantastic." He turns to Dana now. "Right, babe?" _

_Dana smiles incredulously at Conrad, "You're fired." _

_Conrad playfully shoves Dana on the shoulder and laughs, "Get outta here!" _

_Thankfully, Dana perseveres, "No, really. You're fired." She walks up to the Subaru crew and begins to shake hands, a big grin planted on her face, " Thank you so much. Thank you so much, you've no idea... how good this feels." She laughs…_

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Dana and Alice are at The Planet having a cup of coffee and musing over the day's events.

"So, how'd your big training session with the Subaru scouts go?" Alice murmured while nursing her steamy hot café latte.

"I got it!" Dana excitedly jumped out of her seat, "I got the ad campaign with Subaru! They want me to be 'the next gay Anna Kournikova'"

"Wow, I'm so happy for you!" At this they both engage in a warm friendly hug.

"Yeah and I made a booking with a certain sous chef for tonight. I plan on wooing Miss Lara Perkins back over some fine Chinese,"

"As long as you don't wear that god awful sundress…"

"That's _exactly _what I plan on wearing." And at this Dana gave a prize-winning grin.

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Later that night, Dana took a deep breath as she approached Lara's apartment building. There she stood, in front of the buzzer, one hand bracing a single rose behind her back. This scene was both highly reminiscent of their first date and the morning after, exactly as she'd intended. She wanted to start fresh, her way. Wearing the geeky clothes she wanted to wear, going back to the quaint little Chinese place, and, perhaps ending the night with cuddles in bed. She didn't think she could handle much jostling around after such a hard day's work, but maybe a little. Instead of running out of her apartment in embarrassment like her first morning after, they would spend all day together. At this thought she grinned widelyand buzzed Lara's apartment.

"Coming!"

At hearing Lara's heavenly voice, the nervousness of her anticipation finally sunk. It was true Dana had wanted to start fresh, but even the first date jitters had come coursing back through her veins. She anxiously juggled the thornless rose around.

And there she was, more beautiful than ever. For a split second, Dana's heart stopped. This time Lara was dressed more casually and Dana was the overdressed of the two.

Dana giggled, "Well, it's fitting, this time I'm the geek."

Lara smiled. "Should we go?"

Dana was gaping open-jawed, and hadn't moved a muscle. After a few moment's pause she jumped "Oh... Oh, wait… I have something for you! Here." She launched the rose at her soul-mate. "Now lead the way..."

"Okay, Dana, but when we get there I want to have a serious talk. You can't just walk in and expect me to act like nothing's happened."

At this remark Dana's heart skipped a beat, "I know…I want you to see that I've made a concerted effort to…to…be more out and open with my sexuality, the best part of me." As she uttered those lines she'd repeated over and over since they passed Lara's luscious lips, she smiled.

Their eyes met and Lara grimaced as they walked with arms interlocked to the restaurant.

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End file.
